GoodGym has worked closely with Achilles International UK to help visually impaired runners pair up with a sighted guide to allow them to get out and go running. I had volunteered to help Mark, one of the visually impaired athletes participate in the Battersea Park Chase The Moon Event. Mark was brilliant, he kept a great pace and I made sure he was safe as he made his way around two laps of the park - in fact he took 40 seconds off of his previous 5k time. It was worth being out on a cold January evening for!

Five good-gymmers met at the Traid charity shop on St John’s Road.

Clair, Philip, and Poppy attended their first goodgym session.

The task was to box up the end of sale clothes to make way for tomorrow’s delivery

We spent a solid 45 minutes of exercise (box-ersize) clearing the rails and stacking up the boxes. A bit of flexing our muscles, working our legs and careful stacking the shop that was full upon our arrival was soon an empty shell.

Our deed was done for the evening, and we grabbed our coats and said our goodbyes.

It was a double header of a Monday group session last night - just the thing to ward off any lingering January vibes!

We also got to welcome Andy to his first run - great to have you join us. To put us in the right frame of mind to kick off the evening, we did a dynamic warm up and then each shared one thing that cheers us up. Running came up top, as did going to the garden centre, playing with the dogs, and coming to GoodGym. What a wholesome bunch we are!

We set off in the drizzle, weaving our way round the Clapham commuters, and eventually arriving at Age UK Wandsworth for our first task of the evening. With Sophie leading the group, the first job was to drop off old magazines so the service users can repurpose them into art projects. Kudos to Steph for her very classy choice of reading material!

While the team got on with planting bulbs in the raised beds with old spoons as their tool of choice for the evening, as well as clearing leaves in the car park, the rest of us ran down to Bramford Garden. Our job was to help Shah, the community gardener, get rid of a massive piece of graffiti that appeared recently. Shah has been working on it singlehandedly for a while, but the sheer scale of it was too big for one person so she called in reinforcements.

We each grabbed a wire brush and gloves, and got stuck in. It was hard going but satisfying work. Certain colours were strangely harder to remove than others, but with some serious elbow grease we slowly got there -with Pritesh even making sparks fly!

With not one but two tasks successfully completed and the rain threatening to come down even harder, we hit the road. But don't worry, there is plenty more GGing to look forward to! There is this task tonight helping out an environmental clothes store packing up their sale - and it's a nice toasty inside job! Or why not help Jason and his team build tree protectors - the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Blustery, muddy, rainy and cold - it’s fair to say it wasn’t ideal conditions for an outdoor task shifting a huge amount of compost into a massive trailer yesterday. But that didn’t stop four GGers taking on the challenge- and winning! In an hour we managed to fill the whole trailer, climb an enormous manure mountain and even (just about) stayed upright on the slippery paths! Great job everybody 👍🏼👏🏼

A huge welcome to Michele who came along for her very first task! Great to have you join us.

Our task for the morning was to swap over two offices as the amazing Jags foundation, which supports vulnerable communities, and the ESOL school. Sounds straightforward enough. The twist? Well, it was exactly that- the twists and turns of the very old building and the many flights of stairs! Still, after an hour or so of heavy lifting and a very good workout later, the task was completed. The charities appreciated the help, saying it would have taken much longer otherwise. Proof that many hands make light work!

Last night was testament to the amazing things a group of us working together can do in just a short amount of time - and the level of happy chaos it can also create!

We had the pleasure of a new task yesterday. The Positive Network believes in fostering unity, empowerment and resilience predominately within the Black community across generations. They put on various programs and initiatives, celebrate cultural heritage and create a supportive network. They also believe in the power of community and collaboration to drive positive change - something we can definitely agree on here at GoodGym!

They have a centre in Balham which is used by its members. With so much going on there it is little surprise that its small store room had got to bursting at the seams with food, paperwork and other resources. It had become a bit of an issue for Grace, who runs the centre, and she asked us to come and give it a good sort out. There was also the question of a set of shelves to be built...

We quickly organised ourselves into a human chain. Out came dozens of water bottles, files of paper, more toilet rolls than we could count, a piano, a kettle, even a eyesight chart. It was like our very own generation game. All that was missing was the cuddly toy!

Meanwhile the shelves were being assembled by a group of allen key heroes. They made impressive headway in a short amount of time, only to meet with some resistance right at the last step. Nevertheless they persevered and right at the last minute they could be moved back into the office. Only to find, after all that work that the door didn't close properly with them in it! Disaster. Still, with some very impressive tetris style manoeuvring the problem was solved and we could call it a job well done.

Two groups set off for the pub in stages (thanks for expertly guiding everybody back Pritesh and to Katie for leading stretches!) and an evening of board games. With an epic game of Traitors we learned even more about each other, trust and treachery...!

Next week we're back to Age UK and there is also this great mission on Wimbledon common on Sunday - hope to see you there!